


But It’s Alright ‘Cause I’m With Friends

by Archanon



Series: Giving Up The Ghost [2]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Communication, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, OT3 hints, POV Multiple, Reconciliation, written immediately after the first video
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 15:55:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21102068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archanon/pseuds/Archanon
Summary: Arthur gathers up his courage.





	But It’s Alright ‘Cause I’m With Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I found these on my tumblr and am moving them for safekeeping. Written, like, immediately after the first video so definitely not compliant with anything after that given we had zero information to go on at the time. But I had fun with it.

On the drive back to a town from the haunted mansion, Vivi asked Arthur the question he was dreading.

“Arthur, why do you think that ghost seemed like he knew us?”

The fact that he had seen it coming didn’t mean it hit any less hard, though. Arthur actually pulled the van over so he could answer properly. He met and held Vivi’s eyes – something he’d had a hard time doing ever since Lewis died. “Vi, I promise you’ll find out everything tomorrow. But… can I not talk about it tonight? It’s a rough subject and it’s been a long day.”

Arthur saw Vivi bite her lip, worrying it between her teeth. She obviously wanted to know, but he knew her essentially kind nature would keep her from pressing too hard. And he hated himself a little for using that.

“Okay,” she told him. “Tomorrow, then.”

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and pulled back onto the road. They drove in silence to the next town, not even turning the radio on. (Arthur didn’t think he’d ever get the rhythm out of his head again.)

Neither of them really knew what to say, so they ended up booking a motel room and going to bed without more than trivial conversation. Arthur, however, didn’t even try to get to sleep. He hated to break his promise to Vivi but he had amends to make and if he didn’t survive them, he was sure Mystery would let her know what happened, somehow.

Once he was sure Vivi was asleep, Arthur crawled out of bed and headed out. He couldn’t take the van for this, or he’d leave Vivi and Mystery stranded, but he’d called ahead to rent a car and made it just before they closed for the night. He took a deep breath and let it out, then turned the key and turned the car out of town.

He could feel himself shaking as he drove further but this was one time that Arthur was not going to let his fear win. He owed them both this much.

——

Lewis had reconstituted his mansion. It took some effort of will to keep it in place, and he’d lost the ability once the murderer had dragged Vivi away, but he’d put it back. Despite everything, he _had_ seen Vivi’s reaction to it and he knew she had loved the place, so he couldn’t bring himself to destroy it.

_The murderer dragged her away, she didn’t leave on her own,_ he reminded himself, soothing the fragments of his broken heart. _She could come back. She felt something, I know it._

The sound of a car broke him out of his musing and sparked excitement. _It must be her._

Lewis made sure the entrance hall was well lit as he made his way down to stand just inside the door, straightening his tie. His poor, shattered heart was tucked away safely inside his jacket. He could share it with her later, if she was willing to help fix it; he didn’t want to distress her with its current state.

Steps up the stairs, stopping before the door, ready to knock. Lewis opened the door with an effort of will, turning around to greet his love. “You came back. I knew you- YOU.”

The murderer was standing there, shaking in the door, right hand grasping the metal of his left arm (and that was new, the part of Lewis that wasn’t almost incoherent with rage observed. When had that happened?)

He visibly swallowed, but apparently he’d gotten some courage in the time since he’d done the deed. “Yeah, Lewis. It’s me.”

“_Murderer.”_

————–

_“Murderer.”_

Well, that certainly spelled out everything Arthur tried and failed to avoid thinking about. The temptation to abort and run was incredible but that would just leave him in limbo again. He might still not have gotten used to leading the way for the group, but he’d been doing it for a year now and drew on that to make himself stay put. If he stayed, then at least this would be over.

“I can’t deny it,” he admitted. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t been something he’d ever do on his own. He’d thought of it, even if for an instant, and he was pretty sure if he hadn’t whatever had been in his arm wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Lewis, oddly, seemed taken aback at that. The skeleton-ghost-whatever floated closer to Arthur, looking much less incensed than he had a second ago. “I had expected to never see you again once you escaped. You’ve never run towards danger knowingly once in the time I’ve known you.”

“Well, I guess this is an exception,” Arthur retorted, through chattering teeth that made it much less defiant than he’d intended. “…Whatever you decide to do to me, I owe you. I won’t fight it.”

The skeletal version of his friend floated around him, examining him from all angles. Arthur wasn’t sure, but he thought Lewis might be uncertain what to do with that admission. Though, to be fair, Arthur wasn’t expecting Lewis to just ask him a question, either.

“What happened to your arm?”

“Mystery happened to it,” Arthur said. “Right after it pushed you.”

He’d talked to Mystery, afterwards, when Vivi couldn’t hear. There had been something in his arm, and Arthur was glad Mystery had stopped it before it could take him over completely. At least this way, he’d only been able to hurt her indirectly.

“After _it_ pushed me?”

Arthur shivered. He wasn’t sure if Lewis was just intentionally giving him hope that he’d be able to explain or it was real. But it wasn’t like he had anything to lose.

“There was something… in the cave. I don’t know what it was but it got into my head, making me think awful things. It told me it would be so easy to push you.”

The flames that were Lewis’ eyes now flared higher. “So you pushed me.”

“Goddammit, no!” Arthur yelled. Lewis floated back a bit, startled. Arthur couldn’t blame him; he was fairly shocked himself. “I thought for _one second_ that yeah, it would be easy, and suddenly I couldn’t control my own arm! _I tried to stop it!_”

He looked up at Lewis, tears in his eyes. “I was jealous, but never that badly. Dammit, you were my _best friend._ Even if I somehow _could_ have pushed you off and gotten Vivi for myself after, it wouldn’t have been worth it because _I wouldn’t have you anymore._”

“Then why would you take her from me again today?” Lewis retorted, the spectral flames rising along with his voice.

Arthur let his own voice rise in return. “You were trying to kill us! Me, I understand, but you were going after all three of us! I was protecting her because _you’re not there_ to do it anymore!”

A loud gasp from the doorway drew both of their attention to where Vivi stood, silhouetted in the double doorway. Arthur paled, and glanced behind her where Mystery sat, looking smug. Meddling dog.

“How long have you been there?” Arthur asked, shrinking in on himself now that the anger was gone and the full force of his fear came back. God, what had he been thinking mouthing off to Lewis like that?

“Almost the whole time,” Vivi said, jaw set stubbornly. “So. I think it’s time I got an explanation, isn’t it?”

Arthur traded glances with Lewis. Neither of them had ever been able to stand up to Vivi when she had decided something was going to happen, and Arthur knew that had never changed for him. Apparently, it hadn’t for Lewis either.

“Do you remember me?” Lewis asked her, quiet, almost desperate.

“No, I don’t,” Vivi told him. “But I think I’m starting to.”

A loud gurgle echoed through the hall, and Vivi’s stubborn set of her jaw dissolved in embarrassment. “Okay, new plan. Take me to the kitchen so I can make a sandwich to replace the one that ended up on your suit earlier, and then you two can explain it to me while I eat.”

Arthur found himself laughing. Only Vivi. It was no wonder they’d both fallen for her.

——————

It was surreal to sit in the kitchen with skeleton ghost Lewis and casually eat a sandwich at 3 AM (nothing compared to Vivi or Mystery’s sandwiches, of course, but he _had_ been hungry too). Vivi still managed to finish hers off before he’d made it halfway through his, and was asking for answers. He gave her as many as he could, but her main question – why she couldn’t remember Lewis – well, neither of them had an answer for that.

“I don’t know, Vi,” Arthur told her for the third time, ignoring Mystery chewing his way slowly through a sandwich in the corner. “That was right after Mystery took my arm off. All I know is I saw a burst of… pink… light…”

He turned to look at Lewis. Then reached out and poked his spectral pompadour (how the man managed to make that look good, he’d never known.) Lewis looked bemused, Arthur thought, though it was hard to tell with a skull. Vivi followed his gaze, thoughtful.

“If it had something to do with you coming back like this,” she murmured, staring at Lewis. “Then maybe you can fix it.”

“I don’t want to risk you,” Lewis told her, the spectral flames going dim for a moment. “You’re my heart. I could never live with myself if I hurt you again.”

“Your heart!” Vivi gasped. “You tried to give it to me before, but I didn’t know why. Can you give it to me again? We won’t run off this time.”

Lewis reached up a hand and touched the spot where the heart had beat golden on his chest when he’d stepped out of the coffin. Arthur thought he probably hadn’t realized he was doing it.

“If you let it fall again, it may not mend,” Lewis said.

Vivi’s smile was bright. It lit up the room, as it always did. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll keep it safe.”

Lewis locked eyes with her for a long moment, then reached inside his suit and pulled out the heart that had shone so very brightly golden earlier. Now it was blue, and a crack ran across it, but he handed it to Vivi anyway.

“It’s my color!” Vivi said, smiling, and Arthur realized that earlier it had been his color. Why would it be like that now…?

Vivi clicked it and it opened, revealing the picture inside, and Arthur sucked in a breath. He remembered that picture. Hell, he’d taken it for them.

By the look on her face, Vivi did too. He watched the expressions play across her face and was unsurprised when she leapt across the table and tackled Lewis in a hug. He smiled. For all that he’d been jealous to start with, he’d spent too long wracked by guilt and thinking of Vivi as Lewis’ girl to feel anything but happy they were being reunited.

“So that’s why you stopped letting me flirt with you,” Vivi said, still snuggled into Lewis’ side, and Arthur scratched the back of his head, blushing. Lewis looked from one of them to another.

“Ah… well, yeah. I mean the fact that I got possessed and killed your boyfriend kind of made that really awkward,” Arthur said, laughing. Everything seemed to be working out.

“You really stopped her from flirting with you,” Lewis said, wonder in his voice. “I believed you, but-“

“I get it,” Arthur told him. “You spent the whole year thinking that and – god, how could I blame you? I was busy blaming myself.”

Vivi laughed at the two of them and extricated herself from Lewis. She planted a kiss on the front of his skull before stepping lightly over to Arthur and planting one on his cheek. “Thank you, Arthur. I’m sorry I didn’t remember. It must have been awful keeping this to yourself.”

Arthur blushed and raised his hand to his cheek, where Vivi’s lips had been, at a loss for words. Lewis was staring towards them and looked almost a bit jealous. Arthur couldn’t tell which of them he was looking at, though.

“So, are you going to join us again?” Vivi asked Lewis. “It might be a little awkward solving ghost mysteries with a skeleton ghost on the team, but I think Arthur would be happy to give up being the one leading the way!”

Arthur nodded vigorously, entirely unashamed of his own fear. Leading the way was terrifying and really, it had been nice having Lewis to hide behind back when he was human. It would probably be more so if him and his spooky skeleton ghost powers were on their side.

“You’d really have me back?” Lewis asked. “Even like this?”

“Of course!” Vivi cried, once more cuddling up to him. “You’re our best friend and… you’re still my boyfriend, even if you’re partly dead.”

A tear slid slowly out of Lewis’ eye socket and as it trailed down, color spread across the bleached skull until Lewis stood before them, looking as he had in life although still in his skeleton ghost suit. Vivi immediately took the opportunity to kiss him properly now that he had lips again, and Arthur smiled at them.

“Alright, I think it’s time to go to bed. We can talk this out tomorrow,” Vivi said, coming up for air. “You, Mr. Skeleton Ghost Castle Lord, conjure us up a blanket fort big enough for all of us. It’s been a year since I could curl up with both my best friends, I’m not waiting any longer.”

Lewis caught Arthur’s eye and rolled his own, playfully exasperated, but held out his hand. Arthur hesitated, the remnants of the guilt and shame still telling him he didn’t deserve this. Lewis seemed to sense his inner conflict and spoke up. “You heard the lady, Arthur,” he said, grinning the familiar grin at him. “Come over here already.”

As Arthur stood and stumbled over to the other two, almost tripping over his own feet on the way, and then they proceeded out of the kitchen towards the vast entrance hall, Mystery watched from under the table. He hadn’t acted fast enough to begin with, but at least he’d gotten Vivi here at the right time for things to work out. His friends were happy again.

And if Lewis could keep conjuring up food like this even when they were on the road, Mystery would almost be willing to say it was worth it.


End file.
